A farewell to Gir

This evening we are in Rajkot, en route to the Great Rann of Kutch. We left Gir having seen seven individual lions, two of them three times and three others twice. Last night we met the two two-year-old subadults we had seen the day before (it turns out only one of them was male, while the obscured animal was most likely his sister from a litter of two males and three females). With them were another sister and their mother (whom we had seen roaring the previous evening). This morning we saw the two young males who had been at a kill on our second afternoon, though today they were dozing under quite distant bushes. We have loved all of the lions we have seen and have felt especially lucky to see them interacting with one another, apparently unconcerned by our presence.

It is with great thanks to the people of Gir and to the forest that we leave that wonderful place, in the hope of more adventures in the Rann.

In the following video I again mistakenly say it's March when I mean April. Happy April everyone.

Guide and driver dream team, Dinesh and Ramsingh

I only learned that photography is prohibited in Gir's brand new
interpretation centre after I had taken this photo. I think it's meant to be
a rusty-spotted cat. Closest I've come to one, not for lack
of effort.

And the closest I've come to taking
an Asiatic lion selfie

Plumbago auriculata in the garden of
Lion Safari Camp, Gir

Cats seen in 2015
cheetah Acinonyx jubatus fearonii            3
serval Leptailurus serval serval                3
leopard Panthera pardus suahelicus        2
lion Panthera leo nubica                          78

snow leopard Panthera uncia                   3
jungle cat Felis chaus                               2
tiger Panthera tigris tigris                          13

leopard Panthera pardus fusca                4
lion Panthera leo persica                          7